Meandering Thoughts on Moving

Well, it's official.  I have officially thrown up more in the second trimester than the first.  Darn headaches!  I get them a lot more often while I'm pregnant.  I've learned that if I wake up with one I should not take something for it right away, and I should not eat either because I am just going to throw it up, whatever it is.  How's that for positive thinking?  Ha ha!  Well, pregnancy doesn't last forever.  And in only a few more months little Brom will be here for me to kiss and cuddle.  I cannot wait.

This isn't quite what I was planning to do for today's post, but I'm going to do it anyway.  I'm going to follow my meandering thoughts.

Jeremy and I both think about moving a lot lately.  We've already discussed the reasons why.  Right now the biggest reason is that we need to be somewhere where Jeremy can breathe year-round.  Spring and fall are brutal here.  Fall hit me especially hard last year.  I was sick for the first couple of months after we moved.  And fall and spring both hit Jeremy really hard, but more especially spring.  Anyway, so we have been doing some daydreaming lately.  I must admit that my daydreams always seem to meander back to that house that we planned out so many years ago.  Jeremy even had plans drawn up for it.  It's funny how life turns things around.  I still feel strongly that we were supposed to be working toward building a house at that point, even though it didn't happen.  Just like I still feel like I was supposed to get things set up for me to go to SUU, even though that didn't happen.  These were just experiences that we needed in our lives.  I'm ok that these things didn't happen how we thought.  I absolutely trust God's timing, and I know it will be ok.  And I know that these things will still happen someday.

How's that for a meandering thought paragraph.  That's meandering at its finest.

Anyway, what I meant for that paragraph to lead to is a little description of what we've been hoping for in a place to live.  This is kind of an important choice for us because for one thing, Jeremy's got to breathe.  And for another thing, Hyrum only has two more school years before he goes to high school.  Yikes!  Jeremy is hoping that we can move some place and then just put down some roots.  He doesn't want to move while we have children in high school.  That is important to him.  And because moving is not what we like to do for fun, it seems logical that we should only move once to find our ideal place.  That is what we're hoping for.

So. 

1. A place where we can breathe and not die of allergies
2. A good place for our children.  (I've said it before and I'll say it again - we miss the atmosphere of Cedar City.  However, I won't deny that there are good opportunities for our children to grow in places that have fewer LDS people.)
3. A place where we can have a house that is big enough for our growing family.  (PS Everyone asks if this baby is it for us.  The answer to that, as always, is that we just have to wait and see.  We don't have a clear answer, but we will when the time comes.  I am sure of that.)
4. And in said house, we need at least four bedrooms.
5. And an office.
6. And at least 3 bathrooms that each have at least a shower in them.  (Of course, two full bathrooms is a lot better than one, and I will take that for sure!
7. And plenty of storage, including a good-size pantry.
8. A job that pays enough for us to support ourselves with some to share as well.  I also really hope that said job will be something that Jeremy is excited about and enjoys the heck out of every day.

And now for some dreams (not necessarily needs):

1. A place that has a college where I can finish at least a bachelor's degree, and maybe our children will want to go to school there too.
2. We really miss having a library in our home, and we really want to have one again.  We are huge book lovers and really want a home for all our books.
3. I really want a big kitchen, and by that I mean a kitchen with more than one functional counter.  I've already got all the cabinet space I need, but only one counter that I can use.  In said kitchen, I hope to have an oven that is full size and a window over the sink.  And in said window I want to have a little herb garden where I can get fresh basil anytime I want without having it go bad in the fridge if it takes me longer than I planned to use it.  Ha ha!  (And probably some parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, though I think parsley is a funny herb because all you can really do with it is garnish things.  But I love rosemary and thyme, and you can't make stuffing without sage.  And you can't have sage, rosemary, and thyme without parsley!  Then you'd have an incomplete song!)  And I really want lots of light in the kitchen.
4. I want stairs.  One thing I really miss about our Cedar City house is that stairs.  You probably don't hear many people say that.  I can't even quite put my finger on what made it so great, but I really liked having all the family's bedrooms upstairs.  I liked going up and down those stairs and having the living area separate from the sleeping area.
5. I think it would be marvelous if we had a guest bedroom downstairs like in our house plans.
6. Jeremy and I both agree on that and the idea that we want a really big tub in one of the bathrooms - one that an adult can lay down in.
7. We want a big yard for our kiddos to run in.
8. I want a fence around said big yard so my littler ones can run around but stay in the yard.
9. And in said big yard, I want to have a little vegetable garden that Jeremy will take care of because he loves that.  I'll help, of course.  And we want some fruit trees.  And I want a few chickens.
10. I'd love to have a mud room.  I think it would be awesome if on muddy days the children could get as muddy as they want and then go get cleaned off in the little shower area in the mudroom before coming inside.  (And it goes without saying that there have to be some rainy days wherever we live for this to happen.)
11. I would love to have a clothesline in the backyard, and it would be awesome if I could have two washers and dryers.  We go through a lot of clothes here!  And I love being outside hanging out clothes while the little ones play. 
12. I want to have a flower bed in the front of the house.
13. We really hope that Jeremy will have a job that is less demanding time-wise.  He has been gone a lot lately, and I miss him!

Yes, that is a long list of dreams!  Yes, it is asking a lot.  But I'm not going to demand it.  And besides that, it's good to dream.  It's actually good for your health.  Isn't that interesting?  I know we probably aren't going to find a lot of this in our next house, but maybe we can build it all someday.  And if not, that is ok too.  We have enough, and we are happy with what we have.  Please don't think I'm complaining.  And please don't think we'll never be satisfied until every little wish is fulfilled.  It's just fun for us to think about. :)

Every time I think about moving I think about the people who will be sad to see us go.  And I think about how sad I will be to leave them.  And I wonder where in the world the Lord wants us to go.  And I wonder if we will be disappointing several people when we do go.  I don't like disappointing people, especially people I love.  But I know that God has a plan for us.  He just hasn't let us in on the surprise yet.  I'm trying to be patient.  We will see where He sends us.  At least we know that wherever it is it will be good.  I would love to take all our extended family with us and have all of them around us.  And I want my sisters, sisters-in-law, and best friends (well, to be honest, all my sisters and sisters-in-law fall in the best friends category too) to all live on the same block as me so I can hop right over and sit in their houses and chat, and they can do the same in mine.  (That sounds like what heaven will be like, doesn't it?)  And we all really want to go back to Cedar City.  I thought it was a huge thing yesterday when Jeremy admitted that he would take the cold and snow of Cedar City over allergies any day.  He said he may grumble all winter, but he'd still be glad to be there.  And he can still go sit in the hot tub at the aquatic center when it's snowy outside.  I guess it is much preferable to be able to breathe, isn't it?  I know we may not go back ever, and I know we all probably dream about it too much, but Cedar City is definitely a happy thought. :) I loved watching the snow fall every time.  I grumbled about scraping ice every morning but secretly enjoyed it and chuckled about how I'm too short to do a proper job of it on our huge van.  We loved the aquatic center and miss it almost every day.  We miss summer there.  Oh, man, are summers lovely there!  And we miss our friends.  And we miss the schools.  Yeah, whine, complain, miss, miss, miss.

One thing that I have been worrying about but not talking much about in all these thoughts about moving is leaving my doctor.  I have mentioned him before.  I LOVE this doctor, and I am nervous at the thought that we may be moving during this pregnancy, which would mean that I'd have to find another doctor.  It's funny that I would worry more about that than the possibility of overdoing it with moving and ending up in preterm labor.  I'm not that worried about that, though.  Hmmm...  Anyway, my current doctor delivered my last three babies.  He knows what troubles I've had.  He is unfailingly optimistic and he is a really good doctor.  I guess all I can do is leave that in the Lord's hands too.  He knows my needs, and I am sure He can direct me again just like he directed me to Dr. Joe in the first place.

Check it out!  I've got a cardinal on my bird feeder!  That is one thing I do love about being here.  We get a lot of birds.  Our neighbors have a big bush that grows little yellow roses all over, and most of the year it's full of all kinds of birds.  They get really loud sometimes, but I love it!  It is a challenge to keep the bird feeder filled, but I'll take it. :) We definitely missed birds in Cedar City.  They never did come and eat out of our feeder there.  Maybe it's just because we were in the town home park.  Hmmm...  Maybe we just need George's bush. ;) Sorry, George.  We're taking it with us.  Ha ha!

Yesterday at church I took longer than usual to get to Sunday School.  And on my way in I saw a sister I hadn't talked to in a while.  As soon as I saw her I remembered that I dreamed the other night that she was moving to First Ward.  (Crazy dreams these days, I tell ya!)  I hadn't remembered the dream until I saw her.  I told her and we both laughed.  Then she came and sat with me for the rest of Sunday School and also Relief Society.  We chatted about this and that and it was awesome. :) And then after Relief Society ended the lovely sister behind us leaned forward and congratulated my friend for receiving her master's degree.  What?!  I hadn't heard about that!  To that my friend replied that actually it was a doctorate degree and had been a lifelong goal.  She is almost done with her dissertation.  Hooray for her!  I was glad to know that and to be able to congratulate her.  That's awesome!  And I delighted in sitting there feeling happy with those two women that I love so much.  I love our ward a lot.  I am not sure why, but all that really had an impact on me.  It all made me feel so happy and hopeful.  Isn't that funny?  Something as simple as that.  I suppose, though, that I always was delighted by little things. ;) Oh, and I finally was able to tell the Relief Society that we're having another boy, and they all laughed.  It was delightful.  Oh, how I love them all!